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Coles' mussels slip through despite toxic threat

TIM PALMER: Coles has recalled toxic mussels which should never have made it onto supermarket shelves.

Health authorities ordered a global recall of the mussels last week, warning they contain a bio-toxin which can make people sick.

But they've already been sold in some Coles supermarkets in South Australia, Victoria and the Northern Territory.

The algal bloom which caused the problem has now spread to shellfish farms right down the east coast of Tasmania.

Simon Lauder reports.

SIMON LAUDER: The paralytic shellfish toxin can cause nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting, abdominal pain and tingling or burning in the mouth and extremities.

It was discovered in mussels processed by Spring Bay Seafood in Tasmania last week and on Friday, Food Standards Australia ordered a global recall of the mussels.

Coles spokesman, Jim Cooper, says some of the mussels have since been sold from Coles stores in South Australia, the Northern Territory, and in the Victorian city of Mildura.

JIM COOPER: We actually thought we'd been able to stop delivery of this product into stores in our South Australian and Northern Territory operation, but unfortunately they did sneak through the system and so we've had to do a follow up recall to pull those products off the shelf and make sure that anyone that might have bought them doesn't eat them and returns them to the store for a refund.

SIMON LAUDER: So they were put back on the shelves by mistake?

JIM COOPER: No, they weren't put back on the shelves by mistake. There was a delivery that we thought had been stopped on the roads to go over to those states that actually did get through.

SIMON LAUDER: Mr Cooper says the products in question are 500gm packs of Coles cooked mussels in tomato and herb, or in cream and white wine, with use-by dates of the 12th November and later.

JIM COOPER: If they return that particular brand of mussels to their Coles stores, they can get a full refund on it as well.

SIMON LAUDER: Obviously it's unfortunate that that delivery was taken after the recall. Will Coles be undertaking any kind of review of its recall procedures and safeguards?

JIM COOPER: No, we actually take these things very seriously and in this case, look, it was just one of those things that happened, but the main thing was we got onto it very quickly.

SIMON LAUDER: The toxin comes from an algae which is eaten by the mussels.

Tasmania's Environmental Health Manager, Stuart Heggie, says the algae has not been a problem for the industry before and the toxin was first detected in mussels which had been exported.

STUART HEGGIE: It was brought to our attention when the product was tested in Japan.

SIMON LAUDER: Mr Heggie says the algae has now been detected right along the east coast of Tasmania and many shellfish farms have been shut down.

STUART HEGGIE: Now all of the shellfish farms from these areas have been closed for harvesting and pending further results of the water and the shellfish which will tell us what actual levels are in the organisms itself.

SIMON LAUDER: So how many shellfish farms have had to close because of this toxin?

STUART HEGGIE: I couldn't tell you the exact number off the top of my head, Simon, but there are several growers who occupy leases in those sites.

STUART HEGGIE: No, this is most peculiar, for two reasons. It's unusual to get a bloom at this time of year and at that location, and also the type of algae that has been identified as causing this incident hasn't been known to have been toxic in Tasmania before, but it has been known to be toxic in other parts of the world.

So it is certainly most unusual.

SIMON LAUDER: Are all of those mussels from all of those farms processed through the same supplier?

STUART HEGGIE: Yes - anything from Spring Bay Seafoods from - I think it's the 15th of October onwards - and also the Coles branded cooked mussels, which also was recently recalled.

SIMON LAUDER: No one from Food Standards Australia was available for comment about the recall.